Olivia - Gen 4 Ch 5

We do love our birthday parties; it seems to be a Greenbow family tradition. Today we're combining Ren and Mel's big days. Mel was first. His grandpa was tickled pink to bring him to the cake.

Such a friendly little guy, but he just hates to have his hair cut. Odd, since he's not afraid of anything else, just those scissors. I finally gave up.

Then it was Ren's turn. He asked for the oddest things for his birthday - a magnifying glass and a fingerprint kit.  I managed to find the magnifying glass, but the fingerprint kit is gonna have to wait.

Not long after, Mom passed on...

... and Dad followed shortly after. We all missed them terribly, but I was also worried about the Nectary. Neither I nor Lane had any idea how to grow anything, and we had even less knowledge of how to turn it into nectar. I had been trying for years to think of a way to mechanize the whole process, but so far hadn't come up with anything better than the harvester I'd made when I was a kid.

One day as I was wandering around the house, missing my mom and dad, and mulling over my automation problem, I found myself in my mom's art room, staring at her last sculpture - she had finished it the day before she died. Suddenly I had a brilliant idea.

So while Lane took care of Mel, I went to work.

 Often I forgot the time and worked into the wee hours of the morning, after I returned from my ghost hunting jobs.

My persistence finally paid off... I had done it!

My simbot was almost complete.. now to program it. I set it's AI for gardening,cooking, and general repairs. I considered adding cleaning, but I then I remembered how annoyingly neat the maid is, and she is only here half the day. I don't think I could stand so much neatness around the clock.

Now to address a slight problem with asthetics. Let's see, it'll need some clothes, and some sort of synthetic skin, so it doesn't scare our nectary customers.

Much better! No way to disguise the eye-cameras though, so dark glasses will have to do. It says it's name is Benito... hmph. I didn't program that in there.

Let me see if i can fix that. Hmm.. it's AI seems to be ...

AIEEE...ow! Hmph... the AI is becoming more... self aware, I guess you might say.  I decided to let him keep his name.

At least the gardening program seems to be working well.

The cooking too, although after he cooks our food, it's rather disconcerting to watch him eat his own "meals."

I'll have to keep an eye on him though - he gave Ren's friend Maureen a scare when she looked up to see him staring at her with a wrench in his hand.

I can't believe it's time for Mel's birthday again. As you can see, he still won't let me touch his hair. And he's developed a bad habit of sneaking up behind me and scaring me. I feel bad for missing so much of his toddler years developing Benito. But things will change now.. I so want to make up for that time.

My latest invention - I finally perfected my spirit finder! My ghost hunting business has really picked up because of it.

I can always find them now, no matter how they try to hide.

"It's time to move on, spirit!"

"Nooooo..."

But in the end I always convince them.

I couldnt wait to try the spirit finder by Max and Sunflower's graves. I know how constantly seeing them had affected mom, but hey,  I see ghosts every day at work, how bad could it be?

I sucked in my breath when I saw two spirits standing in the backyard... and were they... flirting with each other? I know in an instant they had to be my great-great-grandparents.

My heart beat more quickly as they noticed me. Sunflower drifted away, but Max approached. He spoke in the same animated way that mom always did when she was in one of her "moods".

"Olivia! Olivia! Can you hear me?"

"Yes... are you... Grandpa Max?"

"Of course I am! Now listen! this is important! You need to keep searching! They're waiting for you! Keep digging! Promise me!"

"Digging? You mean the cave-in in the basement?"

"Yes, the cave-in! Promise me?"

I slowly nodded my head, and he gave an audible sigh of relief.  I wonder what is so important about that cave-in. I guess it's time to find out.

Olivia - Gen 4 Ch 4

"No, no no no! Please leave me alone! .....Okay, I'll ask her again..."

My mom is talking to her ghosts again, it sounds like. She says they want something from me, but she has never been clear on what exactly they want.

"Livie! Come quick! Grandpa Max won't leave me alone!"

"What is is mom?" I sighed.

"Oh, Livie! Grandpa Max keeps following me. I'm trying to ignore him,but every time I turn around, there he is. He was even waiting for me in my bedroom this morning. You have to do something!"

"But mom, we've been over this so many times. What do you want me to do?"

 I would have been happy to do whatever she asked, if only I knew what that something might be.

This time my mom actually had a plan.

"They want you to clean up your old workroom in the basement."

I frowned. If there is one thing I hate it's cleaning.

"Can't we just hire someone?"

Mom insisted that 'they' wanted me to do it personally. Whoever 'they' are.  At least I got Lane to help. There is quite the rock slide in here. Hopefully 'they' will be satisfied once these rock piles are cleared.

It took forever, and I was exhausted when we were done. Strange, usually I have tons of energy.

"Look, Livie! This wall is unstable. I think there's something behind here!"

He pulled away a few more rocks, and the whole wall caved in. There was an open space behind.

We cautiously stepped through, and found ourselves standing in a tiny cave that was half filled with rubble.

"Think we should clear this out too?" I looked questioningly at Lane. "Wait a sec... hold that thought."

I was suddenly overcome with waves of nausea, and all thoughts of rubble clearing flew out of my head while I ran to the bathroom. For weeks I was way to sick to even think of that cleaning project, and fortunately mom didn't raise the subject again.

Meanwhile, Lance and Darla had graduated, and Darla at some point had stopped pretending that she didn't live here, and actually moved in.

They spent most of their time out by the pond, as they both loved to fish.

But one day I entered the study, to find both of them with their noses buried in books. I don't think I've seen Lance with a book since he graduated.

"What are you guys reading?"

They both looked up at me with huge grins on their faces.

"Baby books!" They declared in unison. "We're having a baby!"

Mom was totally on board with grandbaby number four.

And soon after, I was happy to announce that Lane and I were expecting again as well.

It was fun having someone else around to talk babies with. Darla and I soon became best friends.

It was so exciting to watch  each other's tummies grow.

Darla is getting so close to her due date! I can't wait!

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl?"

"Nope, I hope it's a girl, though."

"I can't wait for you to bring her home here!"

"Livie, uh... I have to tell you som....."

Just then Lance interrupted us for his daily chat with Darla's tummy.

"Did you tell Livie our big news yet, Dar?"

"I was just about to..."

I glanced from one of them to the other, questioningly.

"Well, Dar and I want to have a big family, like mom.."

"And so we decided to find a big place of our own, for all our little munchkins-to-be," Darla chimed in.

"We're moving tomorrow!"

I was sad that Darla wouldn't be my live-in buddy any more, but they both looked so thrilled, I just had to be happy for them.

Darla and Lance did have their baby girl, who they named Myra, and our baby is getting so close. I think it might come tonight, so I'm heading to bed early.

"Goodnight little guy! I'll come to bed as soon as I help your big brother with his homework!"

Talk about prescience... I had just crawled into bed, and Lane and Ren were still in the middle of homework, when I felt the first contraction.

I had figured by this time, Lane would have so many fire fighting emergencies under his belt this whole labor thing would be old hat, but no.

This time he insisted we take the fire engine to the hospital, siren blaring away and all. How embarrassing. But I was in no condition to complain, and we did get there in record time.

Lane got his wish, and Ren has a new little brother. We decided to continue on with Grandpa Gustave's grape theme, and named him Meloire. Mel for short.

Mel definitely has his daddy's complexion, and so far seems to just love everyone he meets. Lane seems to have an amazing connection with kids, and Mel is no different. Like Ren, he has a special attachment to his daddy.

Olivia - Gen 4 Ch 3

The first thing I noticed when we arrived back from France was mom's sculpture garden.

"How long has that ice sculpture been there, mom? It doesn't look like it's melting?"

Mom was ecstatic. "It's been there for two weeks now! I think I finally figured it out! I just knew there had to be a way."

The second thing was my queasy stomach. Now, I just never get sick. Why, once I ate a whole bowl of bad mac and cheese that made everyone else sick, but it never phased me. So this was a totally new and unsettling experience for me.

Not long after, I had a big announcement for Lane when he arrived home from work. I wondered how he would take it, since we had been married such a short time.

"Guess what sweetie. You're gonna be a daddy!"

"That's wonderful! I can't wait!"

I think he was even more excited that I was.

"I think we should celebrate. Come on!" I grabbed his hand and started up the stairs to our room.  He grinned and followed. He knows by now how I like to celebrate.

Lane is so funny, playing peekaboo with my tummy. I agreed to stop working at my bench for now, which doesn't really bother me because I can't think of anything else to invent, anyway.  My mind is too full of the new life growing inside me.

I refuse to give up my bike though. Lane and I still love to go out riding together.

And I've been spending a lot of time with my miner. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that is buried in our backyard. It makes me wonder what used to be here ages ago.

Mom, of course, is thrilled beyond words to be having grandchild number three.

"You look ready to pop any minute, Livie!"

Sure enough, late that night I felt the first contractions. Even though Lane is trained to be calm under emergency circumstances, all his training flew right out the window as soon as I yelped in pain. I had to remind him to grab my bag, and help me out to the car.

Early next morning, we left the hospital with our new bundle of joy, baby Renoit, named for the first grapevine my grandpa Gustave grew here in Riverview. We call him Ren for short.

Right from the beginning, he and his daddy were inseparable.

Whenever Lane was home, he had Ren in his arms, and Ren would laugh and giggle as Lane tossed him in the air.

The other man in the house who finds Ren irresistible is none other than my little bro Lance.  He comes home from school, and the first thing he does is head for the nursery and catch some snuggles before starting on his homework.

Speaking of Lance, he's been getting all hot and heavy with this girl in his logic class. Her name is Darla Quintero, and she must be some kind of shoe-string relative due to the hair, but no one can figure out quite how.

She sleeps over as often as not, but mom and dad do not seem to care. I'm just glad my little bro is happy.

Now that I'm not pregnant, I'm back at my workbench. I've been thinking about my mom's ghost stories, and been trying to figure out how to make the ghosts she sees visible to me. This isn't quite what I was aiming for, but its a good start. I call it a banisher.

I put an ad in the paper: 'Hauntings, Poltergeists, Odd Happenings? Call Olivia Greenbow for all your supernatural needs!'

No one thought I'd get any customers, but I showed them. The very next day I got a call to help someone who thought their house was haunted. My banisher worked perfectly to capture the wayward spirits.

Ren grew so quickly. What a sweetheart, and he and his daddy were still inseparable.

I made him a toy dog just like the one I had made Lance when he was a baby, and Ren thought it was great.

But his favorite game was playing logic blocks with his daddy.

The time seemed to fly by, and before we knew it, it was Ren's birthday. Lane's was so close, we decided to have a joint party, and invited the whole family. Grandma took him to the cake, and he was just so adorable as he blew out his candles.

Ren's cousin Antwan was there with his mom, my sis Lara. Ren and Antwan seemed to hit it off immediately.

Will Lessen brought one of his dad's famous guitars, and even played for us a bit. He has such talent, I wondered why he chose to go into the spy business instead of following in his dad's footsteps. He announced he and his girlfriend are expecting, so we are all excited for them.

Then it was Lane's turn to blow out his candles. It was all I could do not to drag him upstairs to celebrate right then and there in the middle of the party, but I managed to hold off until the last guest left.